i’ve been thinking a lot about the sabbath lately. i had a few friends in college that kept the sabbath holy by doing no homework on sundays… at all. i never tried it, knowing i’d have trouble passing my classes. but i really believe that if you put God first, all other things fall into place. we used to demonstrate that at camp with a fish bowl, sand and ping pong balls. the ping pong balls represented God’s stuff and the sand represented our stuff. if you fill the bowl with sand first, the ping pong balls don’t fit. putting my stuff first leaves little room for God. but if we filled the fish bowl with ping pong balls first and then sand, the same amount of stuff that wouldn’t fit before now fit perfectly. putting God first leaves room for all the other stuff i need to get done too.
so this week i “stumbled” across jeremiah 17:21-27. here’s an excerpt from the passage:
“but if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the sabbath, but keep the sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then kings who sit on david’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials.”
when i’m thinking about something and then God brings it out in scripture, it’s always confirmation the calling i perceive is actually real. in this case i believe God’s message for me is clear: keep the sabbath holy and He will bless His ministry in my life and bring people though the city gates, expanding His territory.
school starts for me in less than a month. sundays are typically a big homework day, especially since i have little or no time to do homework during the week. this year i’m going to try keeping the sabbath holy, though. i feel it’s something God has called me to do and i’m confident He’ll make everything else in my life fit accordingly.
lauren laughs 